Cooperative communication by independent wireless devices has been proposed as a means of providing spatial diversity and multiplexing gains in a distributed fashion. It has been proposed that users share their antennas and other resources to create a virtual array through distributed transmission and signal processing. Additional information regarding cooperative communication may be found in A. Sendonaris, E. Erkip and B. Aazhang, “Increasing Uplink Capacity Via User Cooperation Diversity,” in Proceedings of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) International Symposium on Information Theory, Cambridge, Mass., Aug. 1998, p. 156.
Reliable range extension techniques may be especially useful for transmitting very long packets from devices located at the edge of a coverage area associated with a wireless, packet-carrying network (WPCN). A single-antenna device such as an IEEE 802.16-capable cellular telephone may benefit from spatial diversity provided by neighboring cellular telephones equipped for cooperative communication, for example. Spatial diversity may increase effective data rates by allowing a packet to be transmitted at a higher modulation and coding scheme (MCS) without a loss of reliability. Additional information regarding the IEEE 802.16e™ protocol standard may be found in 802.16e™: IEEE Standard for Local and Metropolitan Area Networks—Part 16: Air Interface for Fixed and Mobile Broadband Wireless Access Systems—Amendment 2: Physical and Medium Access Control Layers for Combined Fixed and Mobile Operation in Licensed Bands (published Feb. 28, 2006).
Thus, expected transmission times associated with transfers of large data files (e.g., photographs) may be reduced using cooperative communication techniques. However, deciding which stations are to cooperate with a source station to transmit to a destination station may be challenging.